Bitmain’s Antminer 17 Sold Out in Minutes. Will the Bitcoin Hash Rate Rise?

Bitcoin mining giant Bitmain launched two new Antminer 17 miners to the eager market on September 9, 2019. A day before the announcement, data from statistics and wallet provider Blockchain showed that the Bitcoin hash rate topped 94 EH/s to hit 100 EH/s.

Bitmain’s New Bitcoin Miners

The two new mining models, the Antminer S17e and T17e, are purported to offer the best value in the space. The S17e model delivers a hash rate of 64 TH/s and operates with a power efficiency of 45J/TH, while the more budget-friendly T17e offers a hash rate of 53TH/s and power efficiency of 55J/TH.

The new T17e model offers the same hash rate as the S17 (which has a power efficiency of 45J/TH) already on sale but at a lower price offering (with the T17e listed at $1,665 and the S17 at $2,727). Compared to the previously most efficient S9 models launched in 2017, the current S17 series is about three times more efficient.

The company also introduced a compensation strategy for delivery delays. It explains that “if mining machines are not shipped after a certain period of the specified delivery date, Bitmain will compensate customers by coupons for each day of delay, based on PPS rewards of the mining pool (electricity cost deducted).”

It seems then that the company is confident about its delivery or that it is retaining or attracting customers by coupon compensation once delivery is delayed, considering that the market has been desperate for cryptocurrency mining rigs since the bitcoin rally began in April 2019.

According to Bitmain’s website, the first batch of its two new miners, expected to be delivered in the first 10 days of November 2019, was snapped up immediately once available for sale. Regarding this, some insiders said on social media that some big orders were placed to the tune of hundreds of millions of yuan, mostly from mining farms and resellers who might stock up and resell these mining rigs when the price rises.

Bitcoin Hash Rate Boom?

To cater to the increasing market demand, bitcoin miner manufacturers have been working hard on increasing their output. As previously reported by 8btc, Bitmain has ordered 30,000 7nm wafers from TSMC, which could output 90 million chips for about 625,000 units of 7nm miners (assuming all are Antminer S17 models). It was expected that these miners would be shipped by the end of 2019 or during the first two quarters of 2020, which could increase the Bitcoin network’s total hash rate by 33 EH/s.

Apart from Bitmain, other bitcoin miner makers, like MicroBT and Innosilicon, are also increasing production plans on their latest and most powerful miners. In August 2019, an industry insider revealed to 8btc that MicroBT, the Whatsminer maker, has racked in 700 million yuan from miner sales in a single week, which could buy 35,904 units of its most powerful mining machine, the M20S. Recently, Innosilicon has also reportedly received a multimillion-dollar order for miners from cryptocurrency mining farm Hashbox.